Only Bakery in Colorado Again Under Attack by Anti-Christian Activists

FILE–In this Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2017, file photograph, Jack Phillips, right, owner of Masterpiece Cake, confers with a supporter after a rally on the campus of a Christian college in Lakewood, Colo. The small rally was held to build support for Phillips, who is at the center of a case that will be considered by the U.S. Supreme Court in December. The case may determine if business owners like Phillips are having their right of religious liberty and free expression violated by having to offer their wedding services to same-sex couples. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

By now you are probably familiar with the saga of Jack Phillips, proprietor of Masterpiece Cakeshop. Because Phillips owns what seems to be the only bakery in the state of Colorado and he’s an orthodox Christian, he’s been targeted by LBGTQIAPK (I’m not making that up) bullies and their fellow travelers on the Colorado Civil Rights Commission (CCRC) for punishment.

The first run at Phillips, over his refusal to create a cake celebrating homosexual marriage at a time when such a union was not even allowed under Colorado law, ended up with the Supreme Court rebuking the CCRC for their blatant anti-religious bias. The Court left open the likelihood that Phillips could be flogged into submission if the CCRC simply had the common sense to STFU about how much they loathed religious people.

On June 26, 2017, the same day that the Supreme Court agreed to take up Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, an attorney asked Phillips to create a cake designed pink on the inside and blue on the outside, which the attorney said was to celebrate a gender transition from male to female. Phillips declined the request because the custom cake would have expressed messages about sex and gender identity that conflict with his religious beliefs. Less than a month after the Supreme Court ruled for Phillips in his first case, the state surprised him by finding probable cause to believe that Colorado law requires him to create the requested gender-transition cake.
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In the case that Jack won before the Supreme Court, the state admitted that cake artists—including Jack—are free to decline to create custom cakes with a “specific design” that they will not make for anyone. That includes orders for wedding cakes that “featur[e] a symbol of gay pride,” cakes that contain “pro-gay designs or inscriptions,” or cakes with images opposing same-sex marriage. Although the state has repeatedly found no probable cause in other cases where cake artists refused to create custom cakes, the state treated Jack differently when he declined a request for an expressive cake celebrating the idea that sex—the status of being male or female—can be chosen and changed and that it is determined by perceptions and feelings.

“The arbitrary basis on which the state is applying its law makes clear that its officials are targeting Jack because they despise his religious beliefs and practices,” said ADF Senior Counsel Jim Campbell. “Jack shouldn’t have to fear government hostility when he opens his shop for business each day. We’re asking the court to put a stop to that.”

There is nothing surprising here. The guy who set up this lawsuit is just typical of the gay rights mafia which isn’t interested in merely being left alone, they are insistent that their peculiar lifestyle be celebrated. The actions by the CCRC were entirely predictable based on their past history. This is how little people with power act.

Unlike the prior case, SCOTUS will not be able the thread the needle on this one because you can be damned sure the CCRC covered its tracks well. This is actually a good thing. This case will arrive at a court with a Gorsuch and a Kavanaugh. No one will have to stroke Anthony Kennedy’s massive ego to make a decision. And SCOTUS will have to decide whether Freedom of Religion, like the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, is another second class freedom.